The in pond raceway system (IPRS) potentially helps farmers deal with disadvantages in water resources, environment, and investment costs.
In Lâm Đồng, sturgeon farming has been carried out for nearly 15 years with three popular models: raceway in cement ponds, cage farming in reservoirs, and raceway in pond liners.
However, sturgeon farmers are facing lots of difficulties. According to Nguyễn Việt Thùy, Director of the National Center for Breeding in Central (addressed in Hiệp Thạnh commune of Đức Trọng district), exhaustible water resources are one of the problems in culturing sturgeon. It costs a huge amount of money to build all grow-out ponds with concrete. Thus, the In pond raceway system can be a solution.
In 2022, the Lâm Đồng provincial Department of Science and Technology worked with the National Center for Breeding in Central to perform the project of applying the in pond raceway system to develop a suitable farming model of sturgeon for Lâm Đồng farmers.
The research lasted from Oct 2022 to Apr 2023. The research subject was Acipenser baerii, which were stocked in 2,000 m2 ponds with a water level of 1.7m.
The National Center for Breeding in Central developed a model with three ponds with different stocking density: 10 pcs/m2, 13 pcs/m2 and 16 pcs/m2. The average degree was about 22 degrees.
According to the Center, with this model, the left-over feed and waste of fish are extracted from the farming system, hence no concerns of organic pollution. On the other hand, the water environment in ponds is handled, the ecosystem in grow-out ponds are balanced during the courses of culture, thus water resources are not a problem. Besides, water is not discharged to the outside, thus the environment inside and outside the system are controlled.
After six months of stocking, fish in the pond with stocking density of 10 pcs/m2 reached the highest weight (over 0.9 kg each); fish in the pond with stocking density of 13 pcs/m2 reached over 0.8 kg each, and fish in the pond with stocking density of 16 pcs/m2 reached over 0.7 kg each.
Lê Văn Diệu, Deputy Director of the Center affirmed that the in pond raceway system is a potential model to multiply and develop the sturgeon farming sector in Lâm Đồng.
VFM
